Stone keeping door open on signing long-term with Senators

The Ottawa Senators’ veteran winger says there’s still plenty of time to work out a long-term contract to stay in the nation’s capital.

While there was no shortage of negative reaction among the fan base after the 26-year-old Stone signed one-year, $7.35-million deal with the club last Friday to avoid arbitration, he noted in an interview with this newspaper Wednesday that the door is wide open to continue contract talks when that door opens again in January.

No, the short-term deal wasn’t perfect, but it was a solution that bought both sides time to sit down in early 2019 to discuss what’s next without the negativity of an arbitration hearing clouding the talks.

The agreement was made only hours before the hearing was to begin, and there were extensive talks Thursday to try to get a long-term deal in place before GM Pierre Dorion tabled the offer that got this done.

“Everyone is looking at this and I think most fans are thinking this is pretty negative news,” Stone said. “I think both sides left Toronto happy that we still have the opportunity to work something out.

“Everybody knows the way that arbitration can go sometimes and the fact that both sides were able to leave on good terms is a good sign.”

Stone said he was prepared for the hearing but really didn’t want it to take place, and was pleased when talks resumed Friday morning and a deal was agreed to in fairly short order.

“I knew we worked hard and we weren’t able to get a deal done, but then Friday we worked quick and we were able to get something done that I think both sides are happy about,” Stone said.

He was actually happy the arbitration process was in place because it set a deadline for the two sides. He mentioned midway through last season he knew, one way or another, he’d be in training camp in September and the hearing allowed both sides to make a compromise.

Now, Stone, who returned to Ottawa from his off-season home in Winnipeg on the weekend, will spend the next month skating at the Bell Sensplex in Kanata with some of his teammates and other local pros to prepare to report to the Canadian Tire Centre next month.

“We’re just over a month away from camp and it’s kind of nice having a date set where you know everything is going to be done,” Stone said. “I don’t have to worry about it anymore.

“It’s a lot of hours, you’re spending a lot of time on the phone and you’re thinking about what you should do and how you should approach things. It’s actually mentally exhausting. Being a hockey player, you grow up thinking about one thing, and that’s hockey.

“I’m just happy I’m able to get a full month of training and skating knowing that I’m going to be prepared to get this team on the right track.”

There are questions to be answered before the Senators go to camp, including the future of captain Erik Karlsson, but Stone’s only focus is making sure he’s ready to help Ottawa get back on track after a 30th-place finish last season.

“The year didn’t go the way anybody anticipated or anybody planned or the way anybody wanted,” Stone said. “We’ve got to do a little bit of regrouping. We have to set a standard so that on Day 1 of training camp that we’re not going to be pushovers.

“People are already ruling us out or telling us that we’re no good. A lot of us have talked and a lot of us still feel that we have a team that can compete. Sometimes it’s a good thing if you look at the way the league has gone in the last 10 years, half the teams that make the playoffs miss the playoffs the next year, so it’s not going to be easy.

“We still feel we have a group that can compete for a playoff spot, and once you get to the playoffs, anything can happen. In our dressing room, we felt we underachieved about as bad as we possibly could have, so I think that’s part of preparation or maybe getting a little too high after the year before.

“The spirits are going to be high.”

As for Stone, he’s pleased the talks are behind him and he’ll concern himself with the future later on.

“I was really happy with the way everything panned out,” Stone said. “I don’t think either side really wanted to take it to arbitration. We’re really happy with the number and both sides are really happy to have the opportunity to try and work something out long-term.

“We weren’t able to work something out this time around, but we have time to do so.”

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